City Council Member, Former Police Chief in Louisiana, and another Co-Conspirator Sentenced in Vote Buying Conspiracy in Louisiana

Washington D.C. / Amite City, Louisiana – On Wednesday, November 30, 2022, the Department of Justice U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of Louisiana announced that a former police chief in Amite City, Louisiana, and a former Amite City councilmember were each sentenced on November 29, 2022, to one year in prison for violating federal election laws as part of a conspiracy to pay, or offer to pay, voters for voting in a federal election.

A $10,000 fine was imposed in addition to the prison sentence for the former police chief. A fourth co-conspirator was sentenced to four months in prison today for his role in the plan.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Jerry Trabona, 73, the former Chief of Police in Amite City, and Kristian “Kris” Hart, 50, a former Amite City councilmember, agreed with each other and others to pay or offer to pay Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana, voters for voting in the 2016 Open Primary Election and the 2016 Open General Election, in which Trabona and Hart were candidates. Trabona and Hart’s vote-buying strategy included the solicitation and hiring of personnel responsible for identifying possible voters, transportation of those voters to polling places, and payment or offer of payment to voters for voting. Co-conspirator Sidney Smith, 69, of Amite City, paid voters with money provided by Trabona and Hart in the 2016 election.

Calvin Batiste and Louis Ruffino, two other Louisiana men who earlier pled guilty for their roles in the vote-buying scam, will be sentenced at a later date.

The announcement was made by Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, US Attorney Duane A. Evans for the Eastern District of Louisiana, Assistant Director Luis Quesada of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division, and Special Agent in Charge Douglas Williams of the FBI New Orleans Field Office.

The case was investigated by the FBI’s New Orleans Field Office.

The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Rosaleen T. O’Gara and Michael N. Lang of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section, as well as Assistant U.S. Attorney M. Irene González for the Eastern District of Louisiana.